Guindon Cartoon, 1977
“Sometimes I ask myself, what would Mary Tyler Moore do in my situation?”
Please more slippers like this in cartoons please.
Other things that happened this week: I voted no twice because I believe in human rights.
"Maybe it’s the old Lutheran woodsman thing, but it seems as though Minnesota works so, so hard for things that come easy to other places."
This post is about beer… or is it?
In any case, it’s pretty accurate. One of the things I love about Minnesota is that it tries so hard, and one of the things I hate about Minnesota is that it tries so hard.
I wrote a piece about Northern Spark. It’s not a preview so much as a contextual evaluation, or something like that. Critique? I don’t know what to call it. It represents my mixed feelings about the event well, I think, and I got to compare it to the Fiberglass Animals In Cities trend, as well as the Main Street Electrical Parade, and cite Debord in the process.
It’s not really criticism, but it’s my first real in-depth attempt at writing for a publication that might share an audience with Cabinet. If you hit up my suggestions, read Sheila Regan’s preview in City Pages (my admiration for Regan trumps dislike for City Pages), and go see the choir-off at 9pm at the Walker, on which I couldn’t get enough info for the preview, I think you should be pretty set for the night, which will be fun, no matter what.
Anyway, if you like public art, community art, art criticism, or the word “coastie,” I’d suggest clicking on the above.
DYFL?: Fun Fact Of The Day
dyfl:
Adele’s “Someone Like You” was co-written by the guy from Semisonic.
Not sure how I missed that until now…
How did I miss that? How did I miss all the coverage of the Minnesota connection? (The Strib published a couple of stories… but for some reason the Current never talks about it, which makes no sense, or maybe I just miss it, every time.*)
But, then, we also all more or less ignored the fact that Young Adult not only takes place in Minnesota but also doesn’t even have those accents y’all have complain about in the movies and actually pretty accurately portrays Minnesota in the early millennium!
Anyway, we’re quite centered on having our own Minnesota-centric culture, so when something Minnesotan is huge and national there’s a little bit of cognitive dissonance. That’s a working theory, anyway.
Or maybe I just thought I was paying attention and missed it all.
*Apropos of nothing except my recent annoyance: No one makes me want to troll the way John Munson does.
Is there a good guide to MN Etsy shops? What are some MN Etsy shops you like?
Not stuff that’s dripping with Minnesota twee, just good stuff that I’d actually want to buy another person.
Beyond DIY to Do-It-Together
So I fundamentally disagree with much of this essay! But it is well-written and outlines a lot of assumptions about the Twin Cities art scene, and it’s also a good introduction for outsiders about how people think art works here, and I think you should read it. I’d like to know what you think. It speaks to a lot of conversations I’ve been having lately, and I’d like to continue having them, so your thoughts are welcome.
And thanks for putting this out there, Regan.
(For a primer on my opinions about this, go here.)
Supporting Local Businesses Means Supporting Your Local Internet
The terms “community” and “neighborhoods” can be kinda funny. Sometimes community-run media gives people jobs and/or training that can be used to enhance the local understand of how media is made.
And sometimes those terms are employed by outlets that are designed to profit from media trends like hyperlocalism. When the money from the community’s output doesn’t go back into the community, it provides little benefit to the actual community. (And if you want to volunteer, local organizations need your talents more than a for-profit based in New York.)
If Minneapolis and St. Paul didn’t already have outstanding community media resources and amazing local Tumblrs, I would have no problem with new companies trying to build that community spirit. But as it stands there are plenty of local places that provide paying jobs (or that are at least attempting it) to those who curate and write news about the Twin Cities; please support them by reading them, by linking them, by supporting their advertisers and sponsors. Here are some:
- Twin Cities Daily Planet
- Minnesota Public Radio
- MinnPost
- Secrets of the City
- Heavy Table
- METRO online
- Minneapolis-St. Paul magazine
- Minnesota Monthly
- And I’d be an idiot if I didn’t mention Twin Cities Runoff
There are more, so please add to the list. As for one-stop Twin Cities Tumblrs, I’m sure another one of you can provide a list of those, if you don’t already know where to find them.
And then there’s also varied and sundry Patches, as well as several other non-locally based community-oriented sites, which I’m not always a huge supporter of, but at least they pay their writers and editors.
Also, not that the economics of liquor production are anything like the economics of media production (whole ‘nother can o’ worms!), but there is a very nice gin that comes out of Wisconsin called Death’s Door. There’s some free advertising.
